Every year, for m.simons’ summer program, the gallery inivites one of its represented artists to curate an exhibition. This allows for the artist to give insight into his practice from a broader perspective. For this year’s occasion, Jan van der Ploeg was invited to curate an exhibition.
In 1986, Robert Nickas curated the exhibition RED for Massimo Audielo Gallery in New York. Each artist was asked to participate in the exhibition with a monochrome red work. Later, in 1989, the exhibition would also be shown at Le Consortium in Dijon, and in the same year at Galerie Isy Brachot in Brussels.
The exhibition, originally conceived by Olivier Mosset, included the work of John Armleder, Barry X Ball, Robert Barry, Lisa Beck, Michael Corris, Steve di Benedetto, Gretchen Faust, Felix Gonzales Torres, Marcia Hafif, Peter Halley, Michael Jenkins, Donald Judd, Yves Klein, Imi Knoebel, Bertrand Lavier, Ken Lum, Olivier Mosset, Michel Mouffe, Chuck Nanney, Steven Parrino, Laurie Parsons, Platino, Michael Scott, Philip Taaffe, Alan Uglow, Wallace & Donohue, Franz Erhard Walter and Lawrence Weiner.
Following the concept for the exhibition RED, Van der Ploeg has invited the following of international artists to create a pink work as a contribution to the summer exhibition, Lisa Beck USA, Alain Biltereyst B, Ruth Campau DK, Michiel Ceulers B, Nicolas Chardon F, Michelle Grabner USA, Nicole Hassler CH, Martina Klein D, Gerold Miller D, Gerwald Rockenschaub O, Rafaël Rozendaal NL/USA, Huseyin Sami AU, Peter Schuyff NL
Lisa Beck (USA) creates abstract works where geometry and spirituality meet. Her paintings combine forms like circles and grids with reflective surfaces, resulting in a visual experience that is both cerebral and sensuous. Beck was part of the original RED exhibition, linking this current presentation back to its historical source. She is represented by Nathalie Karg Gallery in New York
Nathalie Karg Gallery
Alain Biltereyst (B) is known for his small-scale paintings based on the visual codes of public space—signage, logos, architectural motifs. His work translates this utilitarian visual language into subtle abstractions, marked by rhythm and compositional balance. He is represented by Baronian, Brussels. Furthermore, Alain Biltereyst will present a solo exhibition at PS Projectspace in September.
Ruth Campau (DK) works with color, motion, and transparency in sweeping, bodily gestures. Often using plexiglass or foil as a surface, she applies paint in elongated strokes. Her work emphasizes the physical act of painting while maintaining a playful and luminous presence. Campau is respresented by 2112 Gallery, Copenhagen.
Michiel Ceulers (B) explores painting both as an act and an object. His canvases often show signs of chance, damage, or correction, undermining the idea of perfection. Ceulers fuses conceptual rigor with a punk-like immediacy. He is represented by Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam
Nicolas Chardon (F) starts from the logic of the modernist grid, which he then distorts, disrupts, or dissolves. His paintings begin as geometric structures but gently unravel, as if the canvas itself were resisting formal constraints. He is represented by Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam.
Michelle Grabner (USA) is an artist, curator, and writer. Her paintings often draw on domestic patterns—crochet, textiles—which she translates into systematic abstract compositions. Her work bridges the everyday and the structural, intimacy and order. She is represented by James Cohan Gallery, New York.
Nicole Hassler (CH) explores color and form in suggestive yet minimalist paintings. Built up from repeating shapes, her works generate a poetic, almost musical rhythm. The delicacy of her palette heightens their emotional charge. She is represented by Galerie Arnaud Lefevre in Paris.
Martina Klein (D) creates monochrome paintings that are installed as spatial interventions. By placing color fields on walls, floors, or as freestanding panels, she transforms the viewer’s experience of space.
Klein is represented by Slewe Galerie, Amsterdam
Gerold Miller (D) operates at the intersection of painting and sculpture. His precise, lacquered aluminum objects—often in striking colors—emphasize frame, form, and void. While rooted in minimalism, the work has a strong visual impact. He is represented, among others by Galerie Lange + Pult, Geneva and Galerie WENTRUP, Berlin & Venice.
Gerwald Rockenschaub (A) employs industrial materials, pictograms, and digital visual language. His work is visually direct and graphically bold, moving between pop, minimal, and techno. Rockenschaub achieves maximal clarity with minimal means. He is represented by Galerie Krobath, Vienna, Eva Presenhuber, Zürich and Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris.
Rafaël Rozendaal (NL/USA) first became known for his websites-as-artworks and has since translated his digital visual language into tapestries and paintings. His work plays with gradients, movement, and pattern, creating a hypnotic, meditative atmosphere. He is represented by Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam.
Huseyin Sami (AU) investigates the physicality of paint by not painting it in the traditional sense, but by allowing it to drip, stretch, or dry into sculptural forms. His works emerge through controlled chance, treating paint as material rather than medium. He is represented by Sumer, Auckland and Taubert Contemporary, Berlin.
Peter Schuyff (NL) rose to prominence in the 1980s as part of the Neo‑Geo movement in New York. His paintings feature intricate patterns, undulating lines, and mathematical precision. Schuyff’s work is both psychedelic and methodical. He is represented, among others, by Massimo de Carlo Gallery, Milan.
The curator, Jan van der Ploeg (NL) is known for his bold, abstract wall paintings, often featuring recurring motifs such as the “grip” — a rounded rectangular shape that has become his signature. Working across canvases and architectural spaces, his work plays with scale, rhythm, and the interaction between color and form. Van der Ploeg’s paintings are simultaneously graphic and spatial, creating visual tension and harmony. He is represented by m.simons, Amsterdam.
